


^iie ^ontvuBt 



THE CONTRAST 



A POEM 



EXHIBITING A VIEW OF 



RELIGION AND LEARNING 



BEFORE AXI) AFTER 



THE MESSIAH'S ADVENT. 



PRONOUNCED, JULY 4, 18315, 



BEFORE THE 



^tlieutmt Soctctg oC Uristol coUeae. 



i 
BY STEPHEN PATTERSON. 



PUBLISHED AT THE REaUEST OF THE SOCIETT. 

J. L. POWELL, BURLINGTON. N.J. 

3IDCCCXXXy. 






\ 



PREFACE 



The following poem, written at the request of the Athenian So- 
ciety of Bristol College, embraces, in itself, a subject peculiarly in- 
teresting to the Christian scholar. Looking back, through the dim 
vistas of centuries, upon the nations of antiquity, what a spectacle of 
strength and weakness, of magnificence and wretchedness, of intel- 
lectual greatness and moral degradation, do they present. The causes 
which established their power, and contributed to their dissolution, 
are, undoubtedly, to be found in that sublime, yet depraved mythol- 
ogy, which enfolded, in its pall of mental gloom, the mass of the peo- 
ple. Adapting itself, in many instances, to the refinements of litera- 
ture and science, it yielded new beauty to poetry, and afforded an ex- 
tensive field for the fairy creations of the pencil and chisel — giving 
vigor to philosophy, it presented itself, in a thousand fascinating atti- 
tudes, to the enquiring mind ; but these attractions only pointed the 
shaft of destruction, sweetened the bitter cup of pagan delusion, and 
riveted more firmly the galling fetters of superstition. If we dwell, 
with rapture, on the sublime strains of the poet, or the fervid elo- 
quence of the orator, we recoil, with almost instinctive horror, from 
the contemplation of those scenes, with which their lives are more or 
less connected. The establishment of Christianity leavened, by de- 
grees, the confused lump of civil society. All the finer sympathies 
of the human heart were endowed with new vigor; and the unbri- 
dled fury of passion confined under salutary restraint. The mind, 
actuated by new motives, called into action, all its latent energies, 
and, emerging from the midnight darkness of heathenism, shone 
forth in unrivaled splendor. The pure doctrines of the Gospel, inva- 
riably, exhibit the same effects, in the princely palace and the humble 



IV PREFACE. 

hut ; where the man of science scans, with scrutinizing eye, the ar- 
cana of nature, or the simple rustic breathes forth his evening hymn 
and kneels, in sincere devotion, amid the solitude of his lonely dwell- 
ing. In the following pages a feeble effort has been made, to trace 
some of the more prominent characteristics of the ages prior and 
subsequent to the Messiah's advent. Frequent reference is, also, 
made to the past and present state of our own happy country, ele- 
vated, as it is, to an exalted station among the nations of the earth. 
So important a theme demands a mind matured, and a pen expe- 
rienced in the walks of literature : the former is not to be expected 
from the author's years, nor the latter from a student just entering, 
as it were, upon his collegiate education. The warm approbation 
and repeated solicitations of an enlightened society, could alone in- 
duce him to consent to its publication. Should this poem, therefore, 
fall into the hands of any disposed to criticise, they are here re- 
minded, that it was not written for the public eye, but for the gatifi- 
cation of those friends, with whom the author has the pleasure to be 
associated, in his daily studies and pursuits. 

Bristoi, College,^ 
July H, 1835. 5 



SThe atontvuBt 



The world enrob'd in midnight darkness, slept, 
And gloomy vigils superstition kept 
O'er fallen man, who breath'd his latest breath, 
'Mid rites degrading, scenes of moral death, 
Unworthy him, wliose mind on high should soar 
To praise his Maker, tremble, and adore. 
The fiend of error spread his sable wings^ 
Pour'd forth libations from infected springs, 
Which, sparkling brightly in the golden bowl. 
In dull oblivion, steep'd the trembling soul. 
Each nobler feeling of the immortal mind. 
By sacred virtue, hallow'd and refined, 
Impair'd in vigor, languish'd, sicken'd^ died, 
Leaving the heart a monument of pride, 
A lonely waste, where weeds of vice might grow 
To hide the ruins which appear below. 
So sear'd and bare the stubborn oak appears, 
Stript of its foliage by the flight of years, 
Or flashing lightnings, which had wildly play'd. 
In dance mysterious, through its sombre shade : 
Though round its trunk, the verdant ivy twine,. 
Bright, starry dews upon its leaflets shine, 
a2 



6 THE CONTRAST. 

Soft gales of summer through the branches play, 
'Tis still a ruin, mould'ring in decay. 

In Greece and Rome, the poet strung his lyre. 
And swept its chords with more than mortal fire, 
Pour'd forth those strains, which listening thousands 

charm'd, 
And many a bosom since, with rapture warmM ; 
In energy sublime, bade language flow. 
And, on its beauties, shed a brighter glow. 
Which time impairs not, though on viewless wings,. 
He waste the glory of earth's fairest things. 
Imagination, on her airy throne, 
Made the rich treasures of the skies her own. 
The chrystal spheres, which gild yon azure dome,. 
Made music for her ear, and form'd her home ; 
The past, the present, and the future scene, 
Array'd in flow'^rs and ever blooming green, — 
The store-house whence she drew those charms divine, 
Which still, in verscj-with purest lustre shine. 

The canvass glowed, with life and beauty warm:. 
A new creation, faultless in its form, 
Call'd forth attention ;. — and the Parian stone, 
Fraught with expression, wanted mind alone. 
The op'ning landscape, and the verdant bow'r„ 
The gorgeous temple, and the stately tow'r,, 
In magic grandeur, beautifi-ed the walls,. 



THE CONTRAST. 

Of private mansions, and of public halls ; 
In all varieties of light and shade, 
Appear'd the verdant, cultivated glade, 
And golden clouds,, which float at balmy even. 
The pencil painted with the hues of heaven. 

Deep, in her cell. Philosophy retired,. 
Yet, even there, was courted and admir'd. 
Some lofty souls of intellectual eye. 
Dim, in the distance, did the truth descry; 
At early dawn and midnight*s solemn hour, 
Pursu'd their labours in some lonely tow'r ; 
For her's are joys that will not pass away. 
Like morning dews, before the beams of day ; 
But, redolent with pure etherial fire. 
To heaven^s portals bid the mind aspire, 
Where'er it rove, on fancy's pinions borne, 
At stilly eve, or balm-exhaling morn,— 
Beneath the deep, where gems of ocean shed 
A brilliant lustre o'er their wave-worn bed, 
And rosy coral forms a sylvan grove, 
Where airy sylphs and happy spirits rove 
On gleaming pearl, on beds of amber sleep, 
Sooth'd by the music of the mighty deep. 
Thence mounting upward, through the blue expanse,. 
Where lambent glories, robed in brightness, dance,. 
And radient stars impart a silv'ry light, 
Glitt'ring, like spangles, on the veil of night. 



8 THE CONTRAST. 

It views entranc'd those lucid gems arise 
To glowing suns, which shine in clearer skies, 
With greater splendor, more efficient pow'rs, 
Than that which warms, illumines, gladens ours. 

The verdant turf, with dewy flow'rs bestrew'd, 
The hill, the dale, the grove, the waving wood, 
Where Music pours mellifluent her notes 
Symphonious, warbled from a thousand throats ; 
Scenes of repose, and meditative calm. 
When all is beauty, beauty breathing balm ! ! 
How sweet! secluded, in those green retreats, 
From pining care and summer's sultry heats, 
Absorb'd in thought, the learned page to read,. 
And muse, enraptur'd o'er the ancient dead. 
How fair the lake, in glossy stillness, lies ! 
And mirror'd in its bosom, smiles the skies ! 
Emblem of life ! whose evanescent bliss 
Is but a shadow of true happiness. 
Of joys which flow from pleasures more refin'd. 
Than those which hover round the earthly mind. 
The river rolling onward in its course, 
AVith native grandeur and resistless force ; 
And hoary Ocean, mighty and sublime. 
Though aged, unimpair'd by passing time, 
In storm or calm, how great! how glorious thou! I 
Stern majesty, impress'd upon thy brow. 
Is soften'd to a smile, when, from the west, 



THE CONTRAST. 

The parting sun-beam plays upon thy breast. 
These, O enliv'ning sun! were but a waste, 
By cheerless darkness, and by cold embrac'd ; 
But, in thy light, new beauty still pervades 
The ocean, river, lake, and woodland shades. 

Could ought exalt the soul, the fancy please. 
Without true virtue, 'twere pursuits like these : — 
To roam untir'd, around the silent spheres 
Which mark the flights of moments, days, and years^ 
To trace their influence^ prove the great design 
And its completion, call'd for pow'r divine. 
No wonder, then, if ancient science rear'd 
A race divided from the vulgar herd, 
Who scorn'd to bow (degrading task !) to gods, 
Which artists sculptur'd for those foul abodes, 
Temples raisnam'd, where vice was wont to stray. 
And passions fierce, not piety, bore sway. 
In Nature's works, they read the pow'r of Him, 
Before whose glance, the sun and stars grow dim ; 
Dense clouds and darkness veil his awful form, 
He wings the tempest, rides upon the storm.. 
But still they wander'd, grop'd for perfect day. 
Upon the future, gloom appalling lay. 
The destinies of man were lost in night, 
And reason's torch difTus'd a feeble light. 
Eternity's vast gulph they would explore, 
Through present, past, and future, long'd to soar ; 



10 THE CONTRAST. 

And some, while ardour, in their bosoms, burn'd, 

Approach'd the brink, and, in dispair, return'd. 

The cherub hope had fled, whose rosy smile 

Had sooth'd their hearts, and cheerM tlieir midnight toil 

Fierce war arose, his banner red unfurl'd, 

Murder and rapine swept a guilty world, 

Unloos'd those demons wliich for ages slept, 

And mourning virtue mid the ruins wept. 

A beautiful analogy between 
The moral world and natural is seen : 
As thickest darknss o'er the skies is drawn, 
Before Aurora ushers in the dawn ; 
So moral glooms, in night, had veil'd the earth, 
Ere morning rose, with tlie Messiah's birth. 
A flood of glory lumin'd all the plains. 
The ambient air was charm'd by heav'nly stains, 
And angels touch'd the lyre's responsive strings, 
As starlight glitter'd on their silv'ry wings. 
The gorgeous east her fragrant treasures brought, 
When learned sages him to worship sought, 
Rifled the balmy year of ev'ry sweet. 
And humbly plac'd them at his infant feet. 
Of keen perception, spirits loathe to bow. 
With learning's garlands clust'ring round their brow. 
They knelt, believ'd, ador'd, were freed from sin, 
And found repose which science fail'd to win. 
O hallow'd age ! when principles benign, 



THE CONTRAST. H 

Imbu'd with love, their energies combine 

To renovate a world, where fierce in strife 

Of dire ambition, prodigal of life, 

Tyrants contend to carve a deathless name. 

With blood-red steel, upon the steep of fame. 

O'er nations fall'n, towns, and cities burn'd, 

Temples and palaces to ruins turn'd, 

Their banners wave, while thousands prostrate lie 

In chains degrading, or in exile sigh. 

The founts of love, which, in their hearts, had sprung, 

In language flow'd, persuasive, from the tongue, 

Have vanish'd all, wither'd the joys they brought, 

And chill'd the thrilling ecstacy of thought. 

For what ? that graven on the flaming steep, 

When less illustrious names in darkness sleep, 

Theirs may remain, descend to latest times, 

The lasting records of stupendous crimes ; 

Like lofty columns which in deserts rise, 

Attract afar the traveler's wond'ring eyes. 

Magnificent, in gloomy grandeur frown, 

'Mid heaps of ruins widely spread around. 

From scenes like these remov'd, how happy we ! 
Who pluck the golded fruits from Freedom's tree, 
Beneath whose shade expansive, millions meet, 
And Arts and Science boast their primal seat! I 
As ages roU'd, Ambition's iron hand 



12 THE CONTRAST. 

Had forg'd the fetters to enslave our land ; 

Navies, in triumph, swept round ev*ry shore, 

Proud cities trembled at the cannon's roar, 

When Albion's sons inur'd to war and toil, 

Left the green vallies of their sea-girt isle ; 

O! shameful sight; impell'd by love of gold, 

And thirst of empire, like a torrent roU'd, 

To waste this lovely clime, by men ador'd. 

As the last refuge from the despot's sword. 

Did justice sleep in this confusion dire, 

When thunders peal'd 'mid smoke and gushing fire? 

Contending armies met in stern array : 

O'er waving plumes and banners floating gay. 

Destruction hover'd — zephyr's balmy breath, 

In sighs presageful, told of coming death. 

Then Washington arose, immortal name! 

Whose native splendor borrows naught from fame, 

Met ev'ry danger, brav'd the coming storm, 

Unsheath'd his sword, and nerv'd his conqu'ring arm ; 

Upheld by Heav'n, by love of right inspir'd, 

With ardour burning, and by valour fir'd, 

Rush'd to the field, Columbia's heroes led. 

That noble phalanx, which for freedom bled. 

In vain, thy warriors, Albion ! rush'd to fight, 

Conquer'd they fell, or sav'd themselves in flight, 

Their boasted glory sicken'd in decay, 

And, like an airy phantom, pass'd away. 



THE CONTRAST. 13-^ 

Then, Freedom! wav'd thy glorious flag on high, 
Deck'd with the emblems of thy native sky ; 
And still it waves amid the rising light, 
Which burst, in splendour, on the eager sight. 
Floats, on the breeze, in many a graceful fold. 
With stars illum'd, and streaming bright with gold. 
In distant climes, — beneath the tropic sun, 
W^here diamonds sparkle, golden streamlets run, 
In varied plumage, birds of paradise 
Expand their star-lit wings, and seek the skies ; 
Or, gloomy winter holds his dreary reign. 
And snows eternal wrap the shining plain, 
In paly lustre, moonbeams fall around, 
And stars unnumber'd gild the blue profound, — 
Nations enthrall'd behold it with delight, 
Each patriot's bosom kindles at the sight, 
Indignant spurns the despot's galling chain ; 
Arise ! be free ! he cries, nor cries in vain, 
Arise ! be free ! a thousand tongues reply, 
O ! let us freemen live, or freemen die ! 
Thus Greece arose, in all her ancient might, 
In pow'r terrific, arm'd herself for fight, 
Burst forth resistless, as the raging flood ; 
Then sank the crescent, amid seas of blood. 

O'er foreign realms has Science proudly shone, 
Refin'd the mind to vice and folly prone, 
But here with tenfold lustre she appears, 

B 



14 THE CONTRAST. 

Her wing replum'd, and unimpair'd by years. 

Her false pretensions in the dust are laid, 

With thoughtful brow, she seeks the hallow'd shade. 

And reads entranc'd the sacred volume o'er, 

Till on her mind divine effulgence pour, 

In argument sublime, sustains the word, 

When men presumptuous dare deny their Lord. 

O ! be her beauty shed around these halls. 

In sun-lit garlands, decorate these walls ! 

Let piety divine, with angel mien, 

Impart her bounty and adorn the scene ! 

Then Heaven's approving smiles shall here descend, 

And in our skies its bow shall brighter bend. 

What though nor gorgeous palaces, nor tow'rs, 
Our plains adorn, to cheer the fleeting hours. 
Nor fabled streams, nor ancient ruins grey, 
Where art presents her triumphs in decay ; 
In other lands, where bards enraptur'd sing 
Of bow'rs Hesperian, and the muses spring, 
Wander through Tempe's vales, view ev'ning's beam, 
Peneus ! glitter on thy classic stream, — 
These may exalt the mind, the fancy charm, 
And all the heart with thrilling rapture warm. 
The task be ours ! the passions to control, 
Diffuse the light of heav'n around the soul, 
'Till Truth persuasive shall dispel its gloom, 
And Hope, with sweetest flow'rs, bestrew the tomb! 



THE CONTRAST. 15 

Primeval Innocence, again, shall reign, 
And golden harvests wave on ev'ry plain ; 
O'er arid deserts silver streamlets flow. 
Sweet incense breathe, and dewy flowrets grow , 
Millenial day its influence, thus, shall pour. 
And sin, and sorrow vanish evermore ! 

Bristol College, iu\j 4:, 1835. 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 

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016 165 416 4^ 



